UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway continues to speak out about accepting his latest fight.
The champion had to pull out of UFC 222 due to an injury. He was scheduled to make his next title defense against former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at the event.
If you recall, this bout was originally scheduled for the UFC 218 pay-per-view event. However, Edgar was forced to withdraw from the fight after suffering a broken orbital bone in training. This led to Holloway fighting Jose Aldo in a rematch, which saw Holloway successfully retain his title with a grisly third-round TKO.
On Sunday, it was revealed that Tony Ferguson had to pull out of UFC 223 and thus, Holloway replaced him to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight title in the main event of the upcoming UFC 223 pay-per-view event.
Holloway has opened up on his decision to accept the fight and the reasoning for his desire to become a two-division champion.
“I think this cements – this takes me to the step of being legendary status, and being a legend,” Holloway said in an interview today with the UFC, which manager Brian Butler streamed on Instagram Live. “But I’ve got a lot more to do. I’m only 26. I’ve got a lot more time in the games and there’s a lot more fighters. But first things first: Khabib’s on the list — then after that we can go on from there.”
“It’s historic for sure,” Holloway said (transcript courtesy of MMAJunkie). “Opportunities like this don’t come. They come once in a lifetime. Only one guy really had it already. This is historic. This is huge. Being a two time champ, two weight division champ is great. But holding them two times is even greater, and defending them belts is going to be greater than that.”
“I’m about to go in there, do some cool stuff, have some fun, have the time of my life and show the world who I am,” Holloway said. “Show who ‘Blessed’ is.”
What are your thoughts on Holloway’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.
